Unwanted vibrations in many types of industrial, commercial, military and civilian equipment can lead to degradation in the performance of the equipment. Two examples of such equipment are audio and optical devices. Vibration, movement or shocks in audio equipment including speakers, amplifiers, microphones and audio mixers can lead to degradation in the quality of the signal output from the device. Such vibrations can be present throughout various components of these devices, even in circuit boards on a microscopic level. In some instances, the flow of electricity through electrical components, such as the charging and discharging of capacitors, can degrade the performance of sensitive equipment. Similarly, vibrations in optical based equipment such as telescopes, microscopes, compact disk players, digital video discs, computer disk drives, photographic equipment, etc., can lead to degradation in the information received from the device. In another example, non-isolated vibrations in electronic equipment, particularly vibrations resulting from transformers, fans or other cooling units in computers and computer components, may lead to a reduction in performance and/or functional life of the computer or component. Additionally, vibrations in precision medical equipment, such as robotic arms, can have a negative impact on the precision of the device.
In many cases, rotating assemblies create vibrations that are undesirable in their surrounding environment. This is especially true where the rotating assembly includes a pivotal joint, such as a u-joint, or CV (constant velocity) joint. Other examples of rotating assemblies include turntables, disc drive bearings, etc.
There have been many devices constructed to reduce and isolate unwanted vibrations. There remains, however, a need in the art for effective, affordable isolation devices which are capable of effectively isolating apparatuses and reducing, if not eliminating unwanted vibrations.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,655,668 is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
All US patents and applications and all other published documents mentioned anywhere in this application are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
Without limiting the scope of the invention a brief summary of some of the claimed embodiments of the invention is set forth below. Additional details of the summarized embodiments of the invention and/or additional embodiments of the invention may be found in the Detailed Description of the Invention below.
A brief abstract of the technical disclosure in the specification is provided as well only for the purposes of complying with 37 C.F.R. 1.72. The abstract is not intended to be used for interpreting the scope of the claims.